I just received this win from the latest Frank Robinson auction: Parthian Kingdom. AR drachm. Pacorus II (78-105 AD). Ecbatana mint. Obverse: Bust of Pacorus II left, medium beard, wearing diadem and tiara with loops at top. Reverse: Seated archer right, standard seven-line degraded Greek legend, Ecbatana mintmark. Sellwood 77.8, Shore 399. Pacorus II was the son of the Parthian king Vonones II and a Greek concubine. On Vonones II's death in 51 AD, Pacorus' older brother Vologases I became king of Parthia, while Pacorus was appointed king of the Parthian sub-kingdom of Atropatene (roughly equivalent to modern Azerbaijan). When Vologases I died in 78 AD, his son Vologases II was crowned as Parthian king; Pacorus rebelled and overthrew his own nephew to take the Parthian throne. Little is known about his reign (this is a phrase that pops up a lot when reading Parthian history). It is known that he enlarged the capital city of Ctesiphon and sent an embassy to the Han emperors of China. He did not fight any wars against Rome, so unfortunately the Roman historians give him just a few lines. He died about 105 AD. The artistic style is noteworthy. Fred Shore states "Although continuing the anti-Greek movement of the first century AD, the drachms of Pakoros often exhibit an appealing oriental style as opposed to the crude style of the drachms of fifty or so years earlier." The reverse legend is the same standard seven-line form from a hundred years before, now degraded and almost unreadable, presumably copied from earlier coins by engravers who could not read Greek. By this point all Parthian drachms bear the Ecbatana mintmark; it is unclear to me whether this truly means that only Ecbatana was still issuing drachms, or whether the mintmark had ceased to have that meaning and was now included in the meaningless copied legends. This specimen was won in Frank Robinson's auction for $63, which is a reasonable price for this type in this condition.
Wow, the reverse legend is so tidy! I'd probably have assumed it was fake and skipped past it, remembering the multitude of similar garbled and degraded legends and not knowing any better.
Nice score @Parthicus ! I landed FIVE from Frank, and several I passed or lost. GREAT STUFF in the Auction! LOL, I like that descriptor... "tidy"
My Pacorus II was $56 in the March 1993 sale of, you guessed it, Frank Robinson. I miss the good old days when most of you people where not bidding up the coins I wanted from Frank's sales..... and NFA ..... and CNG ...and...... I wish I had a count on the number of times over the years that Frank has pointed out that these coins tend to be centered low on the obverse and really are not defective when they are centered the way they are. He is right, of course.
